


You Are Who You Are

by kinfic2



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 14:54:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2816207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinfic2/pseuds/kinfic2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gap filler for episode 108<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are Who You Are

**Author's Note:**

> Orig. posted on my LJ in 2009

**Sometimes when you least expect it, when you've finally reconciled you with your life,, someone comes along who shatters the old you and creates a new one. Will you recognize him when he arrives?**

  
Brian's POV  
  
The little shit is getting on my nerves. I mean _really_ getting on my nerves. Between the phone calls from Mother Taylor that he deliberately puts on speaker phone, the phone calls to and from Daphne that are not put on speaker phone, and the phone calls to his loudmouthed sister that are a combination of both, I am slowly being driven out of my fucking mind. _What the fuck was I thinking?_  
  
In my defense, however, I didn’t have a choice. What the fuck was I supposed to do? Let him sleep on the street? He had nowhere else to go. Despite the universal belief that I’m a selfish bastard who only thinks with his dick, I’m not that heartless. I can be kind. If I want. When I want. If and when the occasion warrants it.  
  
When his homophobic, bastard father started kicking the shit out of me, what did Justin do? Rushed over all macho and interfered, pulling him off me, not even giving me a chance to bat the fucker’s balls out of the park for a home run.   
  
When the prick gave him an ultimatum, what did he do? Got himself all worked up, screaming and crying that he was never going home again. Ever. The kid couldn’t breathe, for Christ sake!   
  
When I tried to calm him down, what the fuck did he do? Reached up and touched my face where the fucker did the most damage. He was shaking so badly his fingertips couldn’t stay still. I know because I felt them tapping a nervous beat on my cheek.  
  
The look in his eyes? Fuck! You would have thought the old man bashed his puppy! I never...I mean, shit! I never had anyone look at me that way, with such, with so much fucking _concern _.__ I’ll admit that it threw me for a few reasons. It scared me for a lot more.  
  
He’s more of a man at seventeen than I am now at twenty-nine, more of a man than I ever was or probably ever will be. He has balls. He has backbone. I don’t have either. I never had them. My parents still don’t know I’m queer. I never had the guts to tell them.

 

Justin's POV:  
  
 _“FUCK!”_  
  
His voice split me in half and flayed me with its frustration and anger. Like a cold water splash in the face, the tone penetrated the thick gauze of my hurt, and I returned to myself.  
  
 _“JUSTIN!”_  
  
I wasn't finished. I still needed to lash out, but his worry filtered through my rage at my own fucking father, my obviously homophobic father. Why else would a parent issue an ultimatum, “You come home with me right now or you never come home again”? Little did he know it was no contest.  
  
I deflated when strong arms wrapped around me tightly. Very tightly.  
  
 _“STOP!”_  
  
I saw Brian's face and wanted to vomit. The bruises and the blood. Because of me. I didn’t know if I wanted to apologize or run away. His firm grip definitely vetoed the second option. I couldn’t shake loose even if I tried. The first option? How do you say you're that kind of sorry? I don't know if there are words.  
  
But what really did me in was the pain in his eyes. It had nothing to do with his physical ache. It went deeper, into his soul and into me, reinforcing my gut feeling that he really did care, that he really did give a shit.

 

 


End file.
